By: Terry Haig
Steve Nash, considered by most lovers of the game to be the greatest Canadian basketball player ever, has won another honour.
He’s been elected to the International Basketball Federation Hall of Fame.
Known by its French acronym, FIBA is an association of national organizations that governs the sport around the world.
Nash becomes the first Canadian player ever elected to the honour.
Three others Canadians–James Naismith, the man credited with inventing the game, Jack Donohue, the long-time coach of Canada’s national men’s team, and referee Allen Rae–have been inducted but not as players.
The 2021 Class will named Thursday.
All the inductees will be enshrined together during a virtual ceremony in June.
A two-time National Basketball Association MVP and currently the coach of the NBA Brooklyn Nets, Nash participated in several international competitions over his playing career but is best known internationally for his performance at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Nash averaged 13.7 points, 6.9 assists and 3.3 rebounds over seven games at the Games, helping Canada finish first in its round-robin group with memorable wins over Spain and reigning world champions Yugoslavia.
But medal hopes were dashed when Canada lost 68-63 to France in the quarter-final, leaving Nash in tears as he exited the court.
Nash later called those Games “the best experience of my career.”
In September of 2018, Nash was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game was invented in December 1891 by that other Canadian basketball icon whose fame–at the very least–rivals Nash’s: James. B. Naismith
With files from CBC News, RCI
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